Titles: Senior Wildlife Technician and Wildlife Technician Salary: Senior Tech > $1800 - 2100/month DOE (plus free field housing) Wildlife Tech > $1500 - 1800/month DOE (plus free field housing) Start Date: 18 February 2019 (some flexibility in start date) End Date: 15 June - 15 July 2019 (some techs will start sooner than others and some will end when workload tapers and others will stay to end of season) Last Date to Apply: December 31, 2018
Description: Senior wildlife technicians and wildlife technicians needed for an extensive research project in southern Idaho to examine the effects of cattle grazing on sage-grouse demographic traits and habitat characteristics. Duties include: trapping and banding sage-grouse at night in remote locations, attaching radio collars to female sage-grouse, using radio telemetry to track sage-grouse and locate nests, nest monitoring, sage-grouse brood surveys, short-eared owl surveys, insect sampling, and data entry. Additional duties may include: measuring vegetation characteristics and grazing intensity, plant identification, electric fence installation, and mapping percent grass utilization over large areas in pristine sagebrush steppe grasslands. All wildlife technicians will likely conduct substantial insect and vegetation sampling (potentially several weeks straight). Tasks will vary depending on project needs and start date, and will change over the course of the field season. All technicians will be expected to identify common sagebrush steppe grasses and forbs prior to starting employment (information will be provided upon selection). Technicians will need to walk many hours daily over rough terrain (off-trail) in relatively remote areas and will be required to work unusual hours including night and early mornings. Technicians will work at one or more of 5 study sites in southern Idaho: Big Butte near Atomic City, ID; Jim Sage Mountains near Almo, ID; Browns Bench near Rogerson, ID; Sheep Creek near Grasmere, ID; and Pahsimeroi Valley near May, ID. Technicians may be moved between sites depending on project needs. Southern Idaho offers boundless outdoor recreation opportunities. All sites have nearby access to excellent hiking, birding, fishing, rafting, mountain biking opportunities, and much more! Additionally, technicians will be part of a large research team with 3 professors, 2 graduate students, 20+ technicians, 5 crew leaders, a research scientist, and 2 state biologists. This is a highly collaborative project and involves working closely with personnel from Idaho Department of Fish and Game, the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Geological Survey, the University of Idaho, local ranchers, and other stakeholders Qualifications: Qualifications include an undergraduate degree in wildlife science, zoology, rangeland ecology, botany or a related field (e.g., Biology, Zoology, etc.). The Senior Wildlife Technician position is expected to require far less on the job training than the Wildlife Technician position. Applicants must have excellent interpersonal skills, a strong work ethic, a valid driver’s license, willingness to travel, ability to tolerate walking for up to 8 hours straight, and willingness to live and conduct field research under rigorous and remote conditions during variable weather conditions (snow and rain early in the field season; heat at the end of the field season). Applicants with previous experience performing one or more of the duties described above will be given preference. Experience working/living in rural areas, ranching/farming operations, and operating ATVs and 4WD vehicles is also beneficial. To apply, please send the following materials in a single .pdf or .docx (via email attachment) to Andrew Meyers ([email protected]) and Dr. Courtney Conway ([email protected]): (1) Cover letter, (2) resume with GPA, and (3) contact information for >3 references. Please write “Senior Wildlife Technician” or "Wildlife Technician" in the subject line. Applications will be reviewed as they are received, so some applicants may be selected before 31 December.
